Super Junior Confrontation
by Kim Chang-Ra
Summary: Sakuragi Yū gets a second chance after the debacle he endured at the Maiami Championship. There's just two tiny little problems—and they both want to be Lancers. This is going to be a long day … (A small three-shot written as a birthday request.)
1. I

**A/N: This was written for an anonymous birthday request. If you're reading this, you know who you are.**

 ** _Yu-Gi-Oh!_** **and** ** _Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V_** **are © 1996 and © 2014 by Kazuki Takahashi and the Konami Corporation; all original characters and content herein belong to me and the anonymous person in question.**

 **Hope you enjoy! – K**

* * *

I

" … I'm sorry, I don't follow."

Sakuragi Yū knew better than to give his principal the impression that he was either deaf or dumb as a post. The invasion that had taken place earlier this week had done enough to that end already; his standing as one of the best Xyz Duelists within the Leo Duel School had taken a serious hit—to say nothing of his personal pride.

So when the acting chairwoman of the Leo Corporation had summoned him to her office this sunny morning, one day after classes had been cancelled throughout the city, he'd been expecting a well-deserved tongue-lashing—not what he'd just heard. His confusion, thus, was to be expected.

"Several Duelists," Akaba Himika repeated, in the tone of a woman who was not accustomed to repeating anything at all, "have expressed interest in wishing to become Lancers. I want you to find out if they have what it takes."

"That much I understand, Headmistress," Yū said defensively. "What I want to find out is why you'd choose _me_ , of all Duelists. I-I mean," he added, as the principal of the Leo Duel School quirked a dangerous eyebrow, "surely Hokuto or one of the circuit reps would be better qualified to—"

"Shijima Hokuto is … " Himika paused very briefly, " … _indisposed_ at present. And I do not feel that the other circuit representatives have the necessary abilities to accomplish this task. Tōdō Yaiba is still recovering from his injuries at the Maiami Championship, and Kōtsu Masumi is, well … "

Another very brief pause. "Bottom line, you're the next best thing," Himika told him, sliding a sheet of paper across the desk in his direction. "I've already arranged for you to meet them at Central Park in half an hour."

Yū did some mental math as he tucked the paper in his pocket. "Central Park's a … half-hour walk from here."

Himika did not blink. "Then I suggest you _run_."

The Youth Division quarterfinalist—the sole one, in fact, to survive a Maiami Championship that had taken a stunning turn for the worse—could not help but cringe at the last word. It was exactly the same thing he'd done back then.

He'd run away from that battle—he'd run like a _coward_. Yū had been exceedingly grateful to hear that the camera feeds hadn't picked anything up, or he'd have been the laughingstock of the entire city by day's end.

Fortunately, Himika seemed to have acknowledged the poor choice of words, as her expression immediately softened. "Consider this an opportunity to rebuild your … _reputation_ ," she said. "We may need at least one more circuit representative before long. It's not too early to start thinking about potential candidates."

Yū's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his lavender hair. Had he heard that right? "W-well, then," he could only stammer. "I won't let you down again, Headmistress. Er—do you want my report directly?"

"That won't be necessary," Himika said coolly. "Half an hour."

Yū took the hint—but he didn't start running until after he'd left Himika's office, descended the elevator he'd taken to get there, and stepped out into the sunny day with a sudden vigor that he hadn't felt all week.

* * *

That vigor lasted all of about ten minutes—and so it was that a panting, sweat-streaked Yū was to be found in Central Park, lounging on a bench under a large tree and doing his best to catch his breath.

Every step of the way, his mind had been repeating the same thing, over and over again like a mantra: _rebuild my reputation … circuit representative … potential candidates … rebuild my reputation …_

But it couldn't be that easy, could it? It was harder for one win to make a Duelist than it was for one loss to unmake him. Yū knew this to be true; he'd gone into this Championship defending his title in the Junior Youth Division—beating _Kachidoki Isao_ , of all people, to get there. Since then, it seemed like he could do no wrong; he'd yet to lose a single Duel with his Deck since then, and his entry into this year's tournament had almost felt routine.

Yū wasn't stupid, though; he'd known something about this year's championship was anything but _routine_ the moment he'd _seen_ that Duel: the Fusion user from You Show—Sora, was his name?—and Kurosaki Shun, LDS' New Kid On The Block, who'd come up from out of nowhere to display a mastery of Xyz that had even impressed Yū, though that supercilious attitude of his grated on his nerves to no end.

Things had started going off the rails two days later. Scarcely had Yū won his scheduled Duel when he'd been cornered by a young girl who looked strangely similar to another You Show student he'd seen in passing. With her had been another person that had instantly sent alarm bells ringing in his brain—a giant of a man, battle-scarred and kitted out like a soldier. It didn't take him long to figure out that these were no ordinary Duelists.

At the time, he'd been grateful to Akaba Reiji for his sense of timing, and for telling him to flee when he did.

Then _it_ happened: an invasion force that used _Duel Monsters_ to wage war. The very notion of it still made Yū's skin crawl. He'd remembered wanting to teach the invaders a thing or two—and so he'd been the first to jump into battle, the moment he saw those masked soldiers grinning smugly at him and his comrades.

He didn't like thinking about what happened next. He'd done his best to block out as much as he could. But try as he might, Yū could still see that strange Duelist in his mind, clad in white, riding a white motorcycle from which he could Duel. In that moment, all sense had taken leave of him; he simply couldn't cope with the magnitude of it all.

And so he'd fled. Again.

He hadn't lost. But he'd fled.

In his mind, that was much worse.

No one had told him to flee—certainly not Reiji. Perhaps if someone had, it might have made the truth sting less. But Sakuragi Yū knew the truth, and knew how badly it stung: that day, he'd acted like a scared little boy—a boy who'd gone in way over his head, and had paid dearly for his folly.

He knew his flight wouldn't go unnoticed. As far as he knew, the Battle Royale that invasion had interrupted had been televised to a stadium of thousands— _tens of thousands_ of people. Yet the images Himika had shown after cancelling the tournament seemed to have shocked the world into forgetting everything about what Yū had done. Nobody had called him a coward in the days since; no one had denigrated him for leaving his comrades to be turned into cards. But he was worried that eventually, once the shock of the invasion wore down, everyone would start to wonder how things went so _wrong_ —and that they'd find out what he'd done.

And it was the thought of the insults to come which stung him so.

So deep in his thoughts was he that Yū didn't notice the small _clack-clack-clack_ of shoes walking up the paved trail he'd walked to get here—or that they'd stopped bare feet from where he'd flopped onto the bench—until he heard a small _ahem_ from off to his right.

"Are you Sakuragi?"

Yū instinctively squished his eyes shut as he heard the voice squeak in his ear. God help him, he lamented—even kids could recognize him on sight now! He'd have to reconsider his choice in hair color after today; a disguise might come in useful somewhere down the line.

He sighed, opening his eyes to address the speaker and tell off their parents for talking to strangers—only to find nothing but apparently blue sky, green grass, and the occasional wisp of cloud.

"Um—down here?"

Yū's eyes flicked down right as he felt something tugging his uniform blazer—and he promptly felt his jaw hit the sidewalk in shock.

His first, somewhat foolish thought of the newcomer was of an antiques store that he'd walk past every day to get to and from LDS. Every day, without fail, a large bisque doll was to be seen in the window, its arms posed as if waving to the many passersby, young and old.

The preteen girl now standing before him—just past his waist in height—resembled that antique doll so uncannily that for a brief moment, Yū was half-convinced it had somehow walked right out of that store window. Both eyes were just as pale blue; both cheeks were just as round and dimpled, and just as rosy with makeup. Every strand of hair—butter-blonde but for a few locks of cocoa brown—had been coiffed, teased, and twirled into a headdress that seemed to explode out of her head in every direction like the grand finale of a fireworks display.

Yū's second, _marginally_ more foolish thought was how this girl could stay on the ground with such a balloon of a hairstyle. But that question was solved the moment he saw the gigantic, cream-colored dress she was wearing—though to call it a _dress_ was putting it mildly, and only his lack of fashion sense kept him from calling it anything more. But the amount of layers he could see under that dress made him wonder how she could even walk in the darned thing—let alone in the polished white shoes he must have heard _clack-clack-clacking_ up the path before.

Those shoes now rested next to the bench as the little girl daintily plucked herself beside him, swinging her sock-clad feet a full foot off the ground. "Well, Mister?" she asked. "Are you Sakuragi, or aren't you Sakuragi?"

If Yū didn't know better, he'd have thought this little girl had gotten sidetracked en route to a beauty pageant, or some other silly little thing like that. But the insistence with which she'd asked for his name, and the way she seemed to already know who she was talking to, left him with no choice but to answer her question.

"I suppose I am," he sighed.

He immediately wished he'd brought earplugs. "SWEET!" the little girl practically squeaked in his ear, punching a tiny fist in the air, while Yū winced as if someone had blown a whistle right next to his skull.

"I'm Kaede—Okashi Kaede!" the little girl immediately introduced herself—before promptly commencing to chatter a mile a minute without any preamble, pausing here and there to take quick, squeaky breaths that Yū fervently hoped wouldn't start rotting his teeth.

"My grandma runs a _pâtisserie_ store across the street and she told me I could make some snacks before I left to find you I've heard a lot about you and I'm really hoping you can teach me how to Duel like a Lancer—"

The single word brought Yū back to reality. "A _Lancer_?" he managed to splutter—before the reality of it all hit him like a ton of _Antique Gears_.

 _You've got to be kidding me_ , he moaned in his head, turning his eyes skyward as if wishing for help from above. _This is who Himika wants me to find out is Lancer material?!_

"—and I think it's really sweet, _sweet_ , **_sweet_** that you want to do this for me and—"

Yū held up his hands before the girl called Kaede could ramble on any further. "Hold up, hold up," he said helplessly. "I feel like I skipped a page here. Who said I could help you become a Lancer?"

The word _page_ stirred something in his memory—and it was only then that Yū remembered the sheet of paper Himika had given him. He quickly fished it out of his pocket, unfolded it, and began to read what was on it.

It only took a few seconds; all that was written on the paper was a pair of names, penned in Himika's neat script: _Okashi Kaede_ and _Yashiki Yūrei_. These, then, must have been the Duelists who Himika had claimed wanted to be Lancers. On the one hand, this was a relief; Yū had been expecting a whole class full of wannabe Lancers to meet him here. He could live with two.

On the other … He glanced at Kaede, who had taken the moment of silence to resume talking nonstop—and as he wondered what he'd done to deserve minding a _pageant princess_ , of all things, he hoped fervently that this Yūrei person was a lot more reserved than she was. If not, then it was looking to be a _very_ long day.

"I 'unno," Kaede was shrugging. "I got called into the principal's office this morning. I thought I was in big trouble 'cause I made something explode again. But he said he got a call from a very nice lady who said I could be a really cool Duelist, and this woman said I could find you here to help me!"

So Himika had made plans with Kaede's principal before getting Yū involved. That was mildly irritating; it would have been nice for the headmistress to tell him what he was getting into—or at least, why she thought he'd been the "next best thing" besides an _indisposed_ Hokuto.

He blinked. _Wait—Himika's not her principal? I guess Kaede must go to a different Duel School than I do_.

He blinked again. _Wait—what did she mean by "explode"?! "Again"?!_

Kaede, thankfully, was polite enough to stop talking when Yū raised his hand again. "Look … look," he groaned. "This has been a _really weird_ start to my day, and I'm still out of breath from running all the way here, so can I just have a moment to take all this in before my brain goes bananas?"

The little girl blinked back at Yū as if he'd grown a second head. "Sure," she chirped. Then, a moment later: "I like bananas. My grandma makes some really good Tōkyō bananas. I tried to once, but I just made a big mess. So my mom won't let me make anything in her kitchen anymore."

Yū felt a couple of pieces begin to connect. _Still learning how to cook, then_. There was something about this that niggled at the back of his mind, something he couldn't quite place.

Kaede reached into a small purse, taking out a plastic bag full of what Yū first thought was a small, disassembled jigsaw puzzle until she started munching on one of the pieces. It took a moment for his already confused brain to recall that Kaede had mentioned bringing some snacks with her.

" … Those look really good," Yū decided to say.

"Thanks!" Kaede replied through a mouthful of whatever she was chewing. "My grandma says they're called 'Mill-Few', but I don't know how that's spelled yet, so I just call them napoleons. Want one?"

"Sure." Figuring it would make for a bad first impression if he'd refused, Yū held out a hand long enough for Kaede to plop a palm-sized puzzle piece in it. The run here had left him hungry, after all—and a snack didn't seem like such a bad idea while he waited for whomever this Yūrei person was to show up.

He took a bite—and instantly made a mental note to see a dentist; the sheer amount of sugar in that one bite was almost enough to make him gag. He could taste the pastry underneath, and a few hints of vanilla and almonds—but all he could think of until he managed to swallow that one bite was the torture all that sugar was doing to his teeth.

"You like it?" Kaede was looking at him expectantly.

Yū needed a deep breath before he could answer her. "Yeah, actually." That, at least, was true—once you worked past the sweetness of it all, it genuinely was quite delicious. "It's just, um … I don't have a lot of sugary stuff very often. That one bite kind of kicked me in the teeth—I might need a moment to finish it all. Thanks, by the way."

"No problem!" crowed Kaede. "My grandma always says a sweet tooth is the only tooth you need. She also says a sweet tooth is the only tooth she's got."

 _I wonder why_ , thought Yū as he eyed his half-eaten napoleon. "Why puzzle pieces?"

"My grandma's famous for them," Kaede said. "She makes whole slabs of them. And each piece is different, too. It takes her a long time to cut them the way she wants, though. She says she might need me to cut them one day."

Yū tried picturing a jigsaw puzzle where each piece was a different dessert. It was easier said than done; he felt his mouth watering at the concept.

 _Water_ —his mouth was dry after only a nibble of that pastry. "Did you bring some water with you?" he asked.

There was the telltale plastic _thunk_ of a full-to-the-brim water bottle beside him. "Thanks a lot," Yū said, reaching to pick it up without looking. "As delicious as that was, I need to wash that bite down before I can eat any more."

"Um," Kaede said, "that's not my bottle, Mister."

Yū blinked. "It's not? Then who—?"

That was when he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

* * *

When he'd tried and failed to thwart that invasion, the magnitude of it all had left Yū with a slight—if thankfully temporary—sense of paranoia. Large enough shadows were scarred soldiers and masked Duelists lying in wait; people he didn't know or recognize were invaders in disguise. Even knowing that LDS possessed Fusion Duelists of their own made him briefly wonder if any of them had ever used the same _Antique Gears_ as all those soldiers.

All this and more considered, a tiny part of Yū felt that he was quite justified in reacting the way he did.

The moment he'd turned round, he'd had an instant to see what looked like a series of sharp, crystal-colored claws aimed right at his chest. He'd sprung to his feet with a high-pitched yelp, nearly knocking Kaede off her perch in the process. In the same movement, he'd clamped his Duel Disk to his wrist almost without thinking, and the chevron-shaped Solid Vision blade had hissed to life seconds later. Yū landed in a three-point stance, staring down his would-be assailant—

—who was rolling on the grass under the bench, snickering fit to burst.

 _Like it was nothing more than a prank_.

Instantly, Yū felt his panic snuffed out—no invader would simply _scare_ him for a laugh. At the same time, however, a wave of anger began to boil inside him, and he stalked behind the bench to level a glare at the newcomer, who'd curled up into a ball as he continued to giggle himself insensate underneath.

He was younger than Yū had expected—maybe not that much older than Kaede, if he even was—but a steaming Yū was past the point of caring about how old or young someone was when they'd pushed his buttons for too long.

"What's the big idea, then?!" he shouted. "Who told you it was good manners to sneak up behind a total stranger and scare them for a laugh, huh?"

Yū hadn't raised his voice _too_ much—but it was evidently more of a reaction than his would-be prankster had been hoping for. Instantly, all laughter had ceased, and he'd frozen where he'd laid as if rooted to the ground.

Then, there were sniffles.

Instantly, Yū felt his anger begin an ugly metamorphosis into guilt and shame. Perhaps he shouldn't have shouted the way he had; this boy was young enough that perhaps he didn't know better—or, barring that, was in the middle of learning that he ought to. A bitter flame yet remained inside him to sputter, however—if the boy was still learning, then Yū ought to give him a lesson.

"Sorry for that," he said, choosing his words carefully, keeping his tone gentle but firm. "I've … had a problem with nerves over this past week." That, at least, was true. "I was wrong to blow up in your face, but I don't like getting scared out of the blue like that." He waited a moment, then added, "Would you like it, if I decided to pull that same prank on you?"

There was a long moment of silence before the boy mumbled something Yū couldn't hear. "What was that?"

"I didn't touch you."

"You didn't—what?" Yū tilted his head, confused.

"I didn't touch you," the boy said again. There was a large _snuffle_. "You can't touch people in haunted houses—most of the time. I don't like scaring people _that_ much. I just like saying 'Boo', that's all."

Yū lowered his Duel Disk, shutting off the blade since it was plainly obvious he wasn't about to Duel for his life again. "So you've got a line, is what you're saying?" he asked hesitantly. "That you won't cross it for any reason?"

The boy nodded. "Sorry," he mumbled, curling out of his ball. His voice was the sort of nasally whisper that suggested he didn't relish talking any more than he had to. "Most kids I know actually _like_ to be scared."

"Yeah, well, there's a first time for everything," said Yū. "People are still on edge after what happened during the Championship. Guess it was just your bad luck that I happened to be one of those people."

He grunted—it felt like he'd pulled something after the way he'd flipped out just now. "So—just a stab in the dark—but I'm guessing you're Yashiki Yūrei?"

The boy sat up in surprise, nearly hitting his head on the bottom of the bench. "How'd you know my name?"

"I'm supposed to think you were just hiding here for any random person to scare the daylights out of?" Yū asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't think so. I think you knew I was going to be here. And I _think_ someone told you to meet me here, too. Someone," he added, patting the pants pocket that held the slip of paper Himika had given him, "who'd heard you wanted to be a Lancer, and was ready to give you the chance to make it happen."

"Whoa … " It was hard to tell if the boy, Yūrei, was exaggerating his surprise—boys his age often did. "It's spooky that you know all that."

He stepped out from under the bench, and into full view at last. "I _like_ spooky. You're _cool_."

On any other day, Yū might have eaten up the compliment like one of Kaede's puzzle-piece snacks. But he was so taken aback by seeing Yūrei's full appearance for the first time that he was momentarily struck dumb.

The streets of urban Japan were a haven for outrageous fashion statements; Yū had traveled a few of them in his day on the way to various Dueling tournaments, and seen plenty of crazy collections of clothing and hairstyles in the process. This one wasn't the most bizarre of them, not by a long shot—but the point of any fashion statement was to stand out and be unique. And if nothing else, Yūrei was doing that and more—but to see such a getup on someone so young wasn't something seen every day, even in Japan.

What Yū had thought on first glance to be claws was actually the boy's _hair_ , styled into a series of long spikes that looked long and sharp enough to run a man through. They hung over Yūrei's light gray eyes like so many horns, so gelled up that they barely twitched with every step he took. Whatever he'd used to dye it was catching the sunlight in a very odd way; it hovered in between a shade of lavender not unlike Yū's own hair, or the kind of pale pink associated with a mild case of sunburn. It was enough to make him wonder if this Yūrei kid was related to Sakaki Yūya—if for no other reason that no other boy he knew in this entire city had such crazy hair.

Yūrei's choice of clothes was only _slightly_ less outlandish for their lack of color. The dark leather that covered most of his body— _how could anyone wear so much of it in such nice weather?_ Yū wondered—was at least one size too small across the board; Yūrei looked tall and lanky enough that he suspected he'd just begun a huge growth spurt. Parts of that leather were adorned with enough spikes and studs to shame an American biker gang—and as for the boots … Yū was kicking himself for not hearing the noise they had to have made; they added a good inch or two to Yūrei's height at _least_ , and looked heavy enough that a sufficiently hard kick could knock somebody unconscious.

The boy might have struck him for a vintage rock star if, again, he wasn't about the same age as Kaede. Thus, his first suspicion was that he was dealing with a _very_ devoted fan. _And Himika thinks he could be a Lancer, too …_

Yū slumped back onto the bench as it sank in. _A pageant princess, and a glam rock wannabe … God help me, she's put me on **babysitting duty**._

He felt himself searching the skies for help again. _Can this day get any worse?_

* * *

Unfortunately, the closest thing the sky offered him for help was a plane towing an ad for the latest Duel Girls Club album in its wake. That, for some reason, was enough of a sign for Yū that he felt he had no other choice but to see this through.

He gave Yūrei and Kaede enough time to introduce themselves to each other, and shifted aside enough so that the boy had space to perch on the bench as well, before he began to speak his piece.

"So—something tells me it's just going to be the three of us today." He waved the paper with their names on it. "And I'm not going to sugarcoat things here—um, no pun intended," he hastily added, but too late; Kaede had let out a raucous giggle at Yū's choice of words. "When I was told that some people in this city wanted to be Lancers, I was expecting to meet someone … well, _older_."

Neither of them looked too abashed at this. "Isn't there that one kid with the Lancers, though?" Kaede wanted to know. "Reira?"

"He's an Akaba," Yū said, as if that explained everything. In a way, it did. "That whole family might as well be on a whole other level. The point I'm trying to make is that it takes more than a Duelist to be a Lancer. Oh, there's going to be a Duel today, don't get me wrong," he said before Kaede and Yūrei could look sufficiently crestfallen, "but before that happens, I need to know more about you. _Specifically_ "—he eyed them both in turn—"why exactly you both wanted to be here today."

He pointed to Kaede; Yūrei was too busy chowing down on one of the girl's napoleons to be ready to talk any time soon. "So—ladies first. Why do you want to be a Lancer?"

The little girl's reply was unexpectedly short and to the point. "I go to the same Duel School as Mokota Michio."

Yū suddenly felt a dull thud in his stomach. He knew who that was, though he'd not met him personally. Mokota Michio was a culinary prodigy—with his own TV show and everything, so he'd been told. His had been one of the more heart-wrenching stories of the Maiami Championship: the darkest of horses, showing up out of nowhere—from a Duel School known for producing more cooking personalities than competitive Duelists—and surprising odds and onlookers alike by making it to the Battle Royale after his opponent had failed to show up in time.

Only two things had surprised him more: first, the fact that said opponent had been _Shijima Hokuto_ —a boy for whom the very _concept_ of forfeit was a grave dishonor. In hindsight, perhaps Yū ought to have known then that something about that tournament had gone very wrong. But there was nothing he could do about that now—especially since the _second_ thing had involved Michio being sealed into a card as well, to the horror of his many fans who'd flocked to the stadium to watch him Duel.

"I think I understand," Yū said to Kaede as he digested this bit of information. "You want to help bring Michio back. Maybe even get some payback on the people that … did those things to him."

"He meant a lot to us." Even as Kaede nodded, the explosion that was her blonde hair had noticeably waned. "In all the history of the Culinary Duel School, he was the first Duelist to qualify for the Maiami Championship. He made us realize that we could do so much more than have our own show on TV."

"You think he could've gone all the way?" Yū asked. "That he could've been one of the Lance Defense Soldiers, fighting those bad guys who invaded our city?"

Kaede could only shrug at that. "Soldiers need cooks, too. Who'd feed them after all that fighting?"

A long time passed before Yū realized he had no answer to that. To give himself time to process that answer, he turned to Yūrei, thinking it was time to hear his side of things. "What's your story, then?" he asked. "Why'd _you_ want to be a Lancer?"

Yūrei's answer was, if possible, even more to the point than Kaede's had been. "Shiun'in Sora."

Yū had to rack his brains for a moment before he realized why that name sounded familiar. "The Fusion user from You Show?"

A nod. "I saw his Duel. I was probably the only kid in the stadium that he didn't scare."

That was a bold claim to make, thought Yū. He'd seen snippets of that same Duel, and even those had been enough to make for a difficult night's sleep. The level of carnage that had been caused during that _war_ —there was no other word for it—was beyond anything he'd ever seen in his Dueling career. That wasn't even mentioning the monsters they'd used, either; as frightening as Sora's _Des-Toys_ had been—and it would be a long time before Yū could scrub the screams of terrified children from his mind—it had been Kurosaki's own _Raid Raptors_ that had caused the most destruction during that Duel. Even now, the hailstorm of bombs that had provided the final blow didn't fail to cause a shudder down his spine.

"So, wait—you're telling me you actually _liked_ that Duel?" he asked.

"I didn't say that," Yūrei replied. "I just said he didn't _scare_ me." He sighed, turning his gray eyes to Yū. "Look, I know I'm a weird kid—and I know you're thinking it, too, because I get that a lot. But I'm cool with it. I go to the Wight Duel School—and if you think _I'm_ weird, then you haven't hung around that place for very long."

Yū raised an eyebrow. "Try me."

"Let's just say I'm the 'class clown' compared to everyone else over there," said Yūrei. "It's because I like playing tricks on everybody. I like scaring them, too, if I think they can take it. Hey"—he made a short, raspy noise that Yū needed a moment to realize was a laugh—"I even like it a lot when people can scare _me_ , too. But what Sora did in that Duel was … "

His mouth worked soundlessly for a moment. "Those weren't _tricks_ he was playing," he eventually said. "Tricks are supposed to be _funny_. Nothing about that Duel was _funny_."

He'd wrapped his arms around his ankles, frowning. "I didn't like the way he was scaring everybody," he muttered. "And that's why I want to be a Lancer. I want to Duel him—and I want to show him the _right_ way to be scary."

"To be scary and laugh about it later, you mean?" Yū clarified.

"Exactly," Yūrei said quietly. "Tricks are only funny if _everybody_ laughs at them. Otherwise they're just mean."

Yū thought briefly about reminding the boy of his … _unorthodox_ way of saying hello to a stranger. But then, Yūrei _had_ said he was sorry, and meant it too. He'd realized he'd done something wrong, and made amends for it.

As for Sora … Yū wasn't sure how much of the footage of that Battle Royale Yūrei might have seen. But it looked a lot like the You Show kid had been one of _them_ the whole time; it would certainly explain a lot of his Duel against Kurosaki. If Yūrei wanted to Duel Sora personally, then he was in for an uphill battle.

And Yū still wasn't sure if either of these two kids were Lancer material at all. But he doubted Yūya or the others had had to fill out a questionnaire to become Lancers themselves; besides, if Akaba Reiji had managed to include _Sawatari_ in their ranks, then either Reiji saw something in him that Yū didn't—or their standards had been a lot lower than expected. Yet as far as Yū was aware, that batch of Lancers had made the cut purely on talent—though he knew full well who Sawatari's father was, and a more cynical part of him wondered if maybe some _yen_ had changed hands to make sure he'd made the cut.

All that being said, however, if Himika had had the same doubts he was having right now, then she wouldn't have asked Yū to do this in the first place. And really, who was he to contradict the most powerful woman in Japan?

He stood up with a grunt. "Okay, then. So we know why you came to the table," he said, taking a moment to stretch his legs. "It's time to see what you're bringing to it."

Yūrei's spiky hair whipped upward. Kaede leaped up from where she'd been sitting as if from a springboard. "Are we gonna Duel?" she squeaked hopefully. "Sweet! I wanna see what kind of cards you've got!"

"Well … " A thought had occurred to Yū just then—a reason why, perhaps, Himika had sent _him_ to scout these kids out. "Here's the thing. You know how I mentioned before that it takes more than a Duelist to be a Lancer?"

They nodded.

"I think the reason the Lancers are the Lancers isn't only because they're just _that_ good at Dueling," Yū explained. "It's because they're able to thrive under pressure as well. They're put inside an unfamiliar situation, and told to solve it as only they can. If they can solve it, boom—they're a Lancer." He didn't mention what might happen if they couldn't— _the last thing I want is to bring up_ _ **that**_ _ghost so soon_ , he thought bitterly.

Yūrei looked puzzled. "I don't get it."

"I'm getting there," Yū smiled at him. "Now, if you were watching the Maiami Championship, then I'm guessing you saw at least one of my Duels there. I was a returning champion, after all—they'd have been crazy to not show at least one. But you probably saw a bunch of the cards I played in those Duels. Am I right?"

Another pair of nods.

"So you already know what to expect from me, then. _But_ ," and Yū's smile grew a little wider, "this is the first time you two have met, haven't you? So neither of you has any idea what the other can do."

"I know she's a better cook than I am," Yūrei admitted, pointing a thumb at a brilliantly blushing Kaede.

But the little girl recovered quickly. "And I know _he's_ not as mean as he looks—he's a big ol' softie," Kaede sniggered at Yūrei, who failed to hide a blush of his own even as he stuck his tongue out at her.

"That's all well and good," Yū told them, "but neither of you knows what this means for their Dueling abilities. Which is why you're not going to Duel _me_."

He spun around to face them, smiling wider than ever at their shocked faces. "You're going to Duel _each other_."


	2. II

II

Yū allowed his two charges a moment to let his declaration sink in.

"Duel … each other?" Kaede wondered out loud. Her baby blue eyes had suddenly flicked to Yūrei, who was giving her a funny look in return.

"Yep," Yū told them. "Right here. Right now." He spread his arms out to indicate the paved walkway they were standing on, and the grassy space beyond. "There's basically no one else here, so there's no worry about getting in somebody's way."

"Why, though?" Yūrei asked, his gray eyes still fixed on Kaede. "You're older than she is. You know more about _Duel Monsters_ than either of us. So doesn't that make _you_ the tougher Duelist, Yū? If you're trying to grade us on whether we can be Lancers, I'd want to face someone tougher than _her_ to know if I deserved it or not."

"Hey!" Kaede puffed her rosy cheeks out indignantly. If she was trying to look angry, she was failing spectacularly. "I'll have you know I'm top in my age group over at my Duel School!"

"That's not saying much—"

"—and even Michie- _chan_ himself said I had what it took to be the new face of the school!" Kaede had planted her tiny fists on her hips by now. "So there!"

 _Michie-chan?!_ Yū felt he might be beginning to lose his grip on the situation. "Can this not wait till after the Duel," he sighed, loud enough to distract them, "or are you trying to rile each other up on purpose?! Lancers are supposed to work _together_ , you know! If you keep fighting each other, you won't have much fight left to take to the enemy!"

Part of him wanted to believe that this was just kids being kids—getting on each other's nerves at the tip of a hat, only to dust themselves off and have their laughs after. But Yū, reluctant though he was to be a glorified babysitter, was determined to give Himika some shred of proof that he was smarter than his brief time as a Lancer had let on. So he knew he had to find out how seriously these two children wanted to follow through on their hopes and dreams of being Lancers themselves.

Thankfully, his question had been enough to defuse Kaede's and Yūrei's arguing. Both of them were staring at him, now, waiting for his say.

"You can worry about Dueling me later," Yū told them, his voice steely with what he fervently hoped was personal experience. "I was told to do _one_ thing—to find out if you two are ready to save the world. If you'd rather bicker—well, that's fine by me, too. You can learn the hard way that way—you can figure out if you've got what it takes to be a Lancer when you're two seconds from being _sealed into a card_. So … you're free to go. Class dismissed. See you 'round—and thanks for the snacks."

He gestured nowhere in particular, indicating the city all around them. Yūrei was heard to mumble that he didn't actually _say_ he wanted to leave, while Kaede had wilted completely, shuffling her polished white shoes as though she'd just been caught in the cookie jar. Yū fought the temptation to smile; kids these days would rather eat their Decks than throw away a chance to be a hero—make-believe or otherwise.

"Okay." Kaede spoke first. "We'll do it."

Yūrei said nothing, but nodded vigorously enough that the gelled spikes on his head wobbled dangerously.

"All right, then." Yū took out his Duel Disk. "Take your places." He spread out his hands either side, and the two children walked over to opposite ends of the park trail.

 _Now we find out if I'm better at judging Duelists than babysitting them_ , he thought.

As one, the three of them now took out their Duel Disks, slashing them through the air to ignite their Solid Vision blades. Yū was somehow unsurprised to see that Kaede's design was a pale pink, while the edges of the chevron along her left forearm gleamed with the same tones of butter yellow as her hair.

Yūrei, meanwhile, had clamped his own Duel Disk to his wrist: this one polished silver, with a vivid purple blade not unlike the blade of Yū's own Duel Disk. Both children, he noticed, used a smaller model of Duel Disk—one meant to be easier to use for clumsier hands, and more intuitive for younger Duelists.

As for Yū, he'd switched on his Duel Disk as well—but he hadn't switched on the blade, as he would have no need of it for the moment.

"Access observer mode," he dictated, more to himself than anyone else. "Authorization: Yū, Sakuragi."

His screen blipped briefly, then flared green, displaying the wireframe of a Dueling field—twenty-six zones in all: ten for Spells and Traps, another ten for monsters, two for Field Spells if such were needed, and four more zones that Yū knew had been introduced in a recent patch to account for the recently discovered Pendulum Monsters.

"Observer mode" was a useful feature for studying a Duel without intruding on it outright; with this, Yū could analyze the game state of the Duel to come at any time, though he would not be able to enter the Duel himself. Each professor and some of the more senior students within the Leo Duel School had access to this application on their Duel Disks; Yū remembered all too well how many agreements he'd had to sign stating that he wouldn't abuse it in any way, shape or form—though he doubted using it to judge a kids' Duel would hardly qualify as _abuse_.

He'd sat back down on his bench, now, and allowed himself a moment to get comfortable. "Okay," he called out to the two kids—Kaede on his right, Yūrei to his left. "Whenever you're ready!"

They spared one last look at one another—and then, as if mirroring one another, both acted. "DUEL!" they screamed in tandem.

Immediately, Yū's screen began to dance with telemetry: Life Point counters for each combatant were set to the standard 4000, while hand sizes were calculated to five cards each. A typical, tournament-level Duel, in other words—though not one with an Action Field in it; Yū hadn't wanted to make things _too_ complicated.

"I'll be going first!" Yūrei called out, wasting no time in slapping a card on his blade. "I activate the Field Spell: _Ghostrick House_!"

The skies darkened all of a sudden—too quickly and rapidly to have been a mere cloud passing over the sun—and the footpath was shrouded in an eerie mist. Moments later, the sky had disappeared completely as the scene changed into a wide, decrepit-looking hallway, stretching in a straight line to both ends of infinity.

Solid Vision never ceased to impress Yū; the way it could change the world around him on just about every level imaginable—up to and including most of Maiami City—was nothing short of sensational. And the amount of detail was even more so; Yū could hear the place creaking and groaning as if swayed by the wind.

It was almost like being in a haunted house, he thought— _almost_.

"I set one monster and two more cards," said Yūrei in the meantime, "and end my turn with that!" A trio of cards, arranged in a triangle, appeared and disappeared in the time it took to draw breath; one of them—the monster—lingered still, with an ominous-looking skull looming above it, staring intently at Kaede as if daring her to make a move.

"Not getting scared already, are you?" Yūrei taunted her.

Kaede made a face at him. "My turn—draw!" she yelled. She inspected the fresh card in her hand long enough to make a cutesy, teeth-rotting giggle.

"First, I Summon _Madolche Anjelly_ in Attack Position!" she declared. Two figures materialized before her just then: first, a puzzle piece that—unless Yū's eyes were deceiving him—was made out of wobbly pink gelatin. Moments later, the second figure—this one, a tiny, _chibi_ -style fairy with long brown hair and a white dress almost as sprawling as Kaede's own—had alighted on that puzzle piece, brandishing a silver spoon at Yūrei as if it was a knife (Level 4: _ATK 1000_ /DEF 1000).

It was here that another marvel of Solid Vision technology took effect, one that Yū would continue to admire until he was old and gray: holographic interactivity. _Anjelly_ had just finished striking a cute pose in front of Kaede when it seemed to notice the spooky hallway she'd been Summoned in. Immediately, her toothy grin had slid off her face, and she'd started looking left and right every other moment in sudden fear.

But it didn't last for long. "Next, I play the Continuous Spell: _Madolche Ticket_ —and then, I'll activate _Madolche Anjelly's_ effect!" Kaede called out, placing another card on her Duel Disk. "Once per turn, I can Release it to Special Summon another _Madolche_ monster from my Deck. It'll be shuffled back in at the end of my next turn—but it can't be destroyed by battle, either! So I'll Summon _Madolche Puddincess_ in Attack Position!"

 _Anjelly_ bounced on her piece of gelatin like it was a trampoline—once, twice, thrice—and shimmered into sparkling dust on the third jump, leaving the gelatin to fade into the spreading mist. But just as quickly, another succulent-looking puzzle piece had appeared in front of Kaede—and perched upon this one was a figure that Yū thought could have been a dead ringer for the Duelist herself; _Puddincess_ was only distinguishable from Kaede by virtue of wearing a tiara, an even more outrageous quantity of blonde hair, and a dress that looked like it had been decorated in white cake frosting (Level 5: ATK _1000_ /DEF 1000).

Again, the interactive effects of Yūrei's Field Spell kicked in: it only took a single _creak_ from the floorboards for _Puddincess_ to squeak in surprise, hands clapped to her mouth and eyes wide as saucers.

"Okay—that's getting annoying," Kaede said grumpily—before breaking out into a wide grin. "I think this place needs a little _redecorating_ —so I'll activate a Field Spell of my own! Feast your eyes on _Madolche Château_!"

No sooner had she slapped that card on her blade than the surroundings beside and behind her began to change. Pieces of the hallway began to detach and float around her—more jigsaw-puzzle shapes, Yū couldn't help but notice—as if being rearranged by invisible hands.

Before long, Kaede's half of the haunted hallway had been restructured into what was, by all accounts, the biggest, most expansive gingerbread house he'd ever laid eyes upon. Nor did it stop there; within moments, battlements of pastry had risen up behind Kaede, while parapets of flan and frosting topped the construction.

Against his will, Yū felt his stomach begin to grumble—Kaede was making him hungrier with each card she played.

" _Madolche Château's_ first effect activates the moment I play it," she was explaining in the meantime, "and shuffles every _Madolche_ monster in my Graveyard right back into the Deck!" She ejected a single monster— _Anjelly_ , Yū knew—and placed it back in her Deck slot, whereupon auto-randomizing functions triggered with the rapid _thwip-thwip-thwip_ noise of shuffling cards.

"If you think that's sweet," Kaede went on, " _Château's_ second effect is even sweeter—because it gives every _Madolche_ monster on the field an extra 500 ATK and DEF! And to top _that_ off," she added, "if there aren't any monsters in my Graveyard, my _Puddincess_ gets another _800_ ATK and DEF!"

Yū couldn't help but be fascinated from where he sat. As he watched _Puddincess_ swell to an imposing **_2300_** / **2300** , he mused how Kaede had been able to do all this on her first turn—to Summon a high-Level monster, render it indestructible by battle, buff it to more than _twice_ its usual strength, and recycle every monster in her Graveyard—all with just a handful of cards. For a Junior-level Duelist, that was impressive.

"Now for _Madolche Ticket's_ effect!" Kaede giggled. "Once per turn, if a _Madolche_ monster goes from my field or my Graveyard into my hand or my Deck, I can add another _Madolche_ monster from my Deck to my hand!"

She did so. "And that's not all! If I control a Fairy-Type _Madolche_ monster, like Little Miss _Puddincess_ here"—the monster in question curtseyed at no one in particular—"I can Special Summon that added monster in Attack Position! So feast your eyes on this cute little sweetheart: _Madolche Chouxvalier_!"

Yū had to fight down a laugh at that point; _Chouxvalier_ was little more than a preteen boy with a candy cane for a sword, a plush pony for a mount, and the sandwich-cookie puzzle piece on which they'd both landed after galloping out of Kaede's _Château_ (Level 4: ATK _1700 »_ _ **2200**_ /DEF 1300 » **1800** ). That didn't stop _Puddincess_ from clasping her hands to her bosom in delight at the appearance of her fellow _Madolche_ —in fact, Yū was prepared to swear blind that little red hearts had appeared in her eyes as well.

He would definitely need to see a dentist after this Duel, he decided.

" _Chouxvalier's_ the most perfect knight in shining armor that any _Puddincess_ could ask for!" said Kaede, adopting a mock swoon. "He'll protect her no matter what—because his effect keeps you from attacking any other monster, Yūrei! You want her, you'll have to go through him!

"Now—Battle Phase!" she squeaked, stabbing a stubby finger in Yūrei's direction. " _Madolche Chouxvalier_ , attack his face-down monster!" _Chouxvalier_ charged forward with a whinny and a flurry of plush hooves, reaching outward with his sword to make the strike—

—only to skid to a halt, an expression of total befuddlement on both horse and rider.

Yū felt just as confused when he checked his Duel Disk; his observer mode had just picked up a Dueling error. But that wasn't right, he thought; Kaede's moves had all been legal up to this point—

" _Ghostrick House's_ effect." Suddenly it was Yūrei's turn to grin now. "While it remains on the field, no face-down monsters can be targeted for attacks. Of course," he added, "if all I have is face-down monsters to protect me, that effect doesn't stop you from attacking directly … "

Yū frowned. That didn't sound like a helpful effect—actually, scratch that; it almost sounded _too_ helpful to be true. Right now, Yūrei had a pair of Set cards just begging to be activated. But Yū couldn't tell Kaede as much, or it would defeat the purpose of this whole Duel.

Not that it would have mattered even if he'd tried, because: "Now why'd you have to go and mention _that_?" Kaede giggled. "You heard him, _Chouxvalier_! Give him a toothache he won't forget—attack his Life Points directly!"

 _Chouxvalier_ recovered quickly, and made a beeline for Yūrei, vaulting right over his Set monster as though it wasn't even there. The candy-cane sword prepared to swing down—

"Continuous Trap, activate: _Ghostrick Roleshift_!" cried Yūrei. "Once per turn, during the Battle Phase, I can target 1 face-down monster I control, and switch it to face-up Attack Position! I'll target my face-down _Ghostrick Kyonshī_!"

For the second time in as many minutes, _Chouxvalier_ skidded to a halt, whinnying in panic as a small, pale figure materialized in front of it: one that Yū recognized as one of the "hopping vampires" of Chinese folklore—at least, if it didn't look young enough to be in kindergarten (Level 3: ATK _400_ /DEF 1800).

"Then," Yūrei went on, "since I switched the battle of a battle position of a _Ghostrick_ monster, _Roleshift's_ effect can also switch one of your monsters into face- _down_ Defense Position! So I'll target your _Chouxvalier_!"

Several things happened at that moment, and almost too rapidly for Yū to notice individually: _Kyonshī_ made a face at _Chouxvalier_ —and just as quickly, the piece of floor on which _Chouxvalier_ had been standing _flipped_ upside down, sending both horse and rider heads over hooves with a cry of surprise—

—nowhere to be seen.

Of course, Yū knew that wasn't the case; he knew full well what had happened to that monster, thanks to Yūrei's explanation. But the visual effects were impressive nonetheless; and the interactive software made it all the more entertaining: _Puddincess_ had squealed in shock upon seeing what had happened to her darling _Chouxvalier_ , and was now actually wagging her finger at _Kyonshī_ as if that would bring him back.

"And that," Yūrei said smugly, "is how you prank a _Duel Monster_. It gets better, too—because my _Kyonshī_ has an effect that activates when it's flipped face-up: once per turn, I can add a _Ghostrick_ monster from my Deck to my hand if its Level is equal to or less than the number of _Ghostrick_ monsters I control!"

"Don't get too proud of yourself," Kaede told him as Yūrei slid a card out from his Deck, and into his hand. "I still have one more monster to attack with—and she's got a bone to pick with your _Kyonshī_ for that trick you pulled! Don't you, _Puddincess_?"

Sure enough, _Puddincess_ had removed her tiara, hurling it right at _Kyonshī_ like a boomerang—

"Continuous Trap, activate: _Ghostrick Night_!" Yūrei had thrown out his hand to activate his other face-down card. "While this card is on the field, and while I control a _Ghostrick_ monster, you can't perform any Reverse Summons at all!"

Yū tilted his head at this. Reverse Summoning wasn't seen often in Duel Monsters these days, not least because of how slow it was. But Yūrei's Deck seemed to thrive off his monsters being face-down for a time, with several cards to do the same to his opponent's monsters as well. He seemed to thrive more for the long game—unusual in a time when speed was almost essential to any Deck that saw competitive play today.

 _Puddincess'_ trinket, meanwhile, continued to flew straight and true—whacking the ghostly _Kyonshī_ right between the eyes—and causing it to fade from view. But the tiara continued on, whirling through the air and striking Yūrei on the back of his head with a glancing blow, hard enough to make him lose his balance as his Life Points shrank to 3050—

 _Wait_.

No, Yū's Duel Disk hadn't glitched; that was indeed Yūrei's current Life Point total—yet _Puddincess_ had had _2300_ ATK. How had he taken that little damage when his monster's ATK had been that low, and Kaede's that high?

" _Ghostrick House's_ effect." Yūrei was still rubbing the side of his head where _Puddincess'_ tiara had struck him. "On top of preventing any face-down monsters from being attacked, it halves all effect damage, and any battle damage from a monster that isn't a _Ghostrick_ monster."

Yū nodded as he heard the explanation; he was beginning to put the pieces of Yūrei's deck together. His was a Deck that thrived on playing the long game—to stall and lock down his opponent. With those two Continuous Traps of his, any monsters Kaede Summoned would be rendered unable to attack, and unable to protect her against Yūrei's own.

"And because I took damage in the first place," Yūrei went on, "I activate the effect of the _Ghostrick Mary_ in my hand—the same monster _Kyonshī's_ effect added to my hand—and discard it to Special Summon a _Ghostrick_ monster from my Deck in face-down Defense Position!"

Kaede nearly jumped out of her white heels at the apparition that had appeared behind her: an old mirror, bearing the image of a screaming girl with red eyes. But the image passed as swiftly as it had been created; before Kaede could recover, it had vanished with a sad, echoing cry, and a freshly Set monster had appeared on Yūrei's field.

But she recovered swiftly. " _Madolche Puddincess'_ second effect," she managed to smirk. "When it destroys an opponent's monster by battle, I can target and destroy 1 card they control! So I'll be getting rid of your _Ghostrick Night_!"

Yūrei was barely seen to grimace as he removed the card in question from his Duel Disk. Yū couldn't blame him; he could almost hear the boy wishing he'd used his _Roleshift_ on _Puddincess_ instead. Perhaps it might have been the right move to make; managing attack targets wasn't as dangerous as removing threats from the field outright.

Unless … Yū wondered if maybe there'd been some underlying motive for this strategy. Yūrei's _Ghostrick_ Deck was slower than any other he'd faced in his time at LDS, but that wasn't the same thing as ineffective. Stall strategies were most often used to allow time to build up to the desired game state—before using that game state to unleash the desired counterstrike to maximum effect.

 _That must be what Yūrei's doing_ , he thought— _he's trying to build up some big field, maybe as soon as next turn_.

"I set three cards, and end my turn," Kaede declared in the meantime, sliding the last of her hand into her Duel Disk.

 _She wants to be ready for anything_ , thought Yū. _But she used the last of her hand to do it—if Yūrei's got an answer to her back row, then she won't have an answer for_ _ **that**_ _next turn_.

"My turn, then," Yūrei breathed, drawing his card as if unsheathing a blade. His gray eyes flicked to that card—and he promptly smiled so broadly that Yū made a mental note to have the boy work on his poker face after today.

"First, I'll Reverse Summon the _Ghostrick Mummy_ I Set last turn." No sooner had he said that than the mist-covered floor was displaced by a hulking, bandaged humanoid. It filled the hallway completely, leering down at _Puddincess_ , who seemed to have gone knock-kneed at the sight of this new monster (Level 3: _ATK 1500_ /DEF 0).

" _Ghostrick Mummy's_ effect lets me Normal Summon twice this turn," explained Yūrei, "so I'll Summon _Ghostrick Ghoul_ and _Ghostrick Stein_ in Attack Position!" Two slapped-on cards later, and two more monsters had appeared on his field: a green-skinned abomination that was, if possible, even more bulky than Yūrei's _Mummy_ (Level 3: _ATK 1600_ /DEF 0), and a shambling corpse (Level 3: _ATK 1100_ /DEF 1200) with tangled hair, long purple nails, and a ghastly leer on its decaying face that made _Puddincess_ —and Kaede as well, Yū couldn't help but notice—look as if they wanted to run for the hills.

"Think you're scared now? Well, you haven't seen my _Ghostrick Ghoul's_ effect!" Yūrei called out. "Once per turn, I can target 1 _Ghostrick_ monster I control, and at the cost of preventing my other monsters from attacking this turn, I can make its ATK equal to the combined ATK of every _Ghostrick_ monster I control until the end of your next turn!"

Now he, too, was leering at Kaede. "You're not too scared that you can't do basic math, are you?"

Kaede's jaw had dropped as his words sank in—and so had Yū's. This had been Yūrei's plan from the beginning, he'd realized; this was what his stall strategy had been building up to. With those three monsters on the field, the _Roleshift_ in his back row, and the _House_ on his field …

It had only taken a few seconds for his mind to add it all up. _Yūrei can win this turn!_

"I'll target my _Ghostrick Stein_!" crowed Yūrei, stabbing a finger at the monster in question, which was beginning to swell up even bigger than it already was. How it hadn't smashed the hallway in which it stood was a miracle—one of many that could be ascribed to the wonders of Solid Vision, perhaps—but before long, it was looming over a petrified-looking Kaede and laughing sinisterly, its ATK now standing at an even more monstrous **_4200_**.

"Then I'll activate my _Ghostrick Mummy's_ other effect," Yūrei went on. "Like every _Ghostrick_ in my Deck, I can change it to face-down Defense Position once every turn." His _Mummy_ shuffled behind the immense bulk of _Stein_ as he said this—but didn't shuffle back out; instead, there was another Set card, and another barbed-wire skull.

"Now … Battle Phase." Yūrei's eyes had a sinister gleam to them. "But first, I activate my Trap, _Ghostrick Roleshift_! I'll use its effect to flip my _Mummy_ into face-up Attack Position—and then your _Puddincess_ into face-down Defense Position—"

— _which leaves Kaede unprotected_ , Yū knew; _House's_ effect kept face-down monsters from being targeted for attacks, but didn't prevent them from attacking directly— _and since it doesn't halve battle damage from_ Ghostrick _monsters, he's just set up a direct attack from Stein … a_ _ **one-turn kill**_ —

"Not this time!" Kaede screamed out of the blue. "Counter Trap, activate: _Madolche Tea Break_!"

Yūrei's _Stein_ skidded to a halt at roughly the same time as Yū's mind.

"Whenever a Spell or Trap Card is activated," grinned Kaede, "and I have no monsters in my Graveyard, I can negate that card's activation, and return it to the hand!"

Yūrei's mouth fell open as _Puddincess_ stepped to one side—having produced a teapot and saucer apparently from nowhere—right as a hidden panel revolved under its feet, one that would otherwise have subjected it to the same fate as her _Chouxvalier_. _Puddincess_ then wagged a finger at Yūrei, as if chastising him for his strategy. He certainly did look chastened enough, Yū thought; he'd had the Duel in the bag up until now.

"And my _Tea Break's_ effect doesn't stop there," Kaede told him. "Because if I activate it while I control _Madolche Puddincess_ , I can also destroy one of your cards! So I'll go and get rid of that nasty little _Ghoul_ on your field!"

The words had barely left her mouth as _Puddincess_ drained her cup of tea—then unceremoniously chucked it right at Yūrei's _Ghoul_. The piece of pottery hit the monster dead center in its brow, leaving a red mark on its forehead, and causing it to topple to the ground, where it disintegrated into a cloud of dust.

"That won't stop my _Stein_ from attacking, though," Yūrei growled. "Attack her _Madolche Puddincess_!"

"Have you forgotten already?" Kaede had her hands on her hips. "My _Puddincess_ can't be destroyed by battle because of _Anjelly's_ effect!"

"Doesn't matter," Yūrei shot back. "I'll still do a lot more damage to your Life Points than you did to mine!"

Stein raised a hand—its palm as wide as _Puddincess_ was tall—and physically backhanded the monster right off her feet. True to Kaede's word, it did not disintegrate into photonic dust, as it would have otherwise—but there was nothing to stop _Puddincess_ from sailing headlong into her Summoner, sending both Duelist and Duel Monster head over heels and into a tangled heap.

Yūrei surveyed this with no small amount of satisfaction, watching Kaede's LP gauge dwindle to 2100. " _Ghostrick Stein's_ effect activates if it would deal battle damage," he told her, "and lets me add a _Ghostrick_ Spell or Trap Card from my hand." One such card now jutted outwards from his Deck, and was swiped up a moment later.

"Now … I think it's time I showed you another reason why I think I can be a Lancer," Yūrei breathed, grinning madly. "Because I'm going to use my Level 3 _Stein_ and my Level 3 _Mummy_ … to construct the Overlay Network!"

Yū's eyes went wide; Kaede's went wider still—and both of Yūrei's surviving monsters began to glow with purple energy as a galaxy of light and sound erupted between them. The vortex of stars and glowing clouds now sucked that energy in, expelling a blast of violet lightning that barely drowned out Yūrei's chanting:

 **"** **Eldest of all bloodsuckers, emerge to feed upon the fear of your enemies!"**

 **"** **Xyz Summon! Come forth from the shadows! Rank 3!** ** _Ghostrick Alucard_** **!"**

With a deafening thunderclap, the lightning dissipated—and in its place stood a tall, well-dressed humanoid with pitch-black eyes, and a shock of hair as pasty white as his skin. Its dark, wide lips curled in a bloodthirsty smile, and a velvet cape billowed behind him as if in a gale (Rank 3: _ATK 1800_ /DEF 1600/ORU 2).

It wasn't the strongest Xyz Monster Yū had ever seen—not by a long shot—but the notion that Xyz Summoning could be performed by someone as young as Yūrei at all was no mean feat. He had to work very hard to keep himself from showing how impressed he was; Yū was supposed to be a neutral observer, after all.

"I activate _Ghostrick Alucard's_ effect," Yūrei declared, as one of the purple lights orbiting _Alucard_ dissolved into nothingness. "Once per turn, by detaching an Overlay Unit, I can target one of your Set cards, and destroy it! So I'll detach my _Mummy_ , and then—"

"Then, nothing!" Kaede squeaked back at him. "Counter Trap: _Madolche Nights_!"

Yū's eyes flicked towards the little girl. _Talk about being prepared_ , he thought; two Counter Traps on the same turn was tough for any Duelist to break through.

"Whenever a monster effect is activated, and I have no monsters in my Graveyard," explained Kaede, "I can negate that activation—and on top of that," she added, "if I control a _Madolche Puddincess_ , I can shuffle 1 random card from your hand right back into your Deck!"

 _She's really doing her darnedest to protect that monster_ , Yū thought. It seemed to be the linchpin of Kaede's entire Deck—that, and making sure there weren't any monsters in her Graveyard at all. Between this and Yūrei's strategy, he was beginning to get the impression that he would be spectating a very long Duel indeed.

"So—eeny, meeny, miney, mo," Kaede muttered singsong under her breath, pointing between one card and the other among the pair Yūrei was holding in his hand. "Catch a tiger by the toe … if he hollers, let him … "

She paused. "Oh, what the heck—surprise me, _Puddincess_!" she crowed, and the monster obliged immediately. One well-flung tiara later, and Yūrei flinched as the crown clipped one of the cards in his hand, causing it to glow with yellow light. Sullen, he slid it back into his Deck, and the auto-randomizers shuffled his Deck once again.

"Okay," he muttered. "This is really starting to get on my nerves. You want to see what I could do as a Lancer? Huh?" His gray eyes were boring holes into Kaede. "Then I'll be more than pleased to _show you_."

He threw out a hand. "I'll use my _Ghostrick Alucard_ … to _reconstruct_ the Overlay Network!"

 _Reconstruct?!_ Yū had whipped his head around so quickly at the single word that he'd cricked his neck. Was Yūrei about to do what he thought he was going to do?

Then, as a second galaxy billowed into being in front of Yūrei, Yū saw _Alucard_ begin to glow with the same purple light as its Overlay Units, and _knew_ :

 **"** **Fallen angel who presides over the spirits of night!"** Yūrei chanted. **"Come forth to darken the skies!"**

 **"** ** _Xyz Change!_** **With one fell swoop, unleash the ultimate in fear! Rank 4!** ** _Spoiled Angel of the Ghostrick_** **!"**

 _Alucard_ was sucked into the vortex of space with little preamble. But as quickly as it disappeared, something else was rising in its place: a girl of roughly Yū's age, with long pink hair, bone-white wings, and a bluish-black dress and stockings that seemed to be made of the night sky itself (Rank 4: ATK 2000/ _DEF 2500_ /ORU 2).

Yū tilted his head. He'd been expecting something more from Yūrei's chanting—especially given that he'd only seen _Hokuto_ performing an Xyz Change before. Then again, Duelists did that all the time with their Summoning chants, to make their monster seem more menacing than it actually was. No doubt Yūrei, who was most in his element when scaring people for laughs, felt right at home with this mentality.

"Aw, I like her," Kaede said from her vantage point. "She's kinda pretty!"

The _Spoiled Angel_ doffed the plumed top hat atop her hair, concealing a flattered blush—but Yūrei ignored it. "I wouldn't say that too quickly," he said softly. "This monster's only one of a special few cards in _existence_. I don't think anyone else in this entire city has such a card."

 _In existence?_ Yū was skeptical. He could cop to maybe Kurosaki making such a claim, but surely Yūrei was simply being overly dramatic.

" _Spoiled Angel's_ effect," Yūrei was saying, "lets me detach an Overlay Unit to add a Ghostrick Spell/Trap Card from my Deck to my hand." He did so, and one of the violet spheres orbiting his _Spoiled Angel_ winked out. "Then, since the Overlay Unit I detached was _Ghostrick Alucard_ , I can activate its effect: when it's sent to the Graveyard, I can target a _Ghostrick_ card in my Graveyard, and put _that_ right back into my hand, too."

One card later: "Now … for my _Spoiled Angel's_ second effect." Yūrei was breathing hard now, as if he'd run a race. "Once per turn, I can turn a _Ghostrick_ card in my hand into an Overlay Unit for _Spoiled Angel_!" He slid a card onto his Duel Disk. "And when my _Spoiled Angel_ reaches a certain number of Overlay Units … "

His gray eyes sparked with a sinister light. "Be afraid," he hissed, grinning. "Be _very_ afraid … "

Yū was suddenly aware of a beeping noise from his Duel Disk. Frowning, he glanced at the screen, and the telemetry it was displaying … and felt something in his body go slack when he saw what it had detected.

One of the cards on Yūrei's field was glowing with an orange-red light, with lines of telemetry spilling outward from every angle: _ALERT! ALPHA PRIORITY THREAT!_

Yū swallowed as he took in the sight. _If Yūrei wins this_ , he thought to himself, _I'm going to train him to be a Lancer_ myself _if I have to_.

And he'd resolved this because that "alpha priority threat"—Yūrei's _Spoiled Angel_ —was a _Duel winner_.


	3. III

III

Yū felt an uneasy chill rushing down his spine. Now that he knew what Yūrei's _Spoiled Angel_ was capable of, she didn't look quite as pretty as Kaede had claimed. Indeed, the monster's small little smile looked faintly sinister.

 _A real-life Duel winner_ , he thought, amazed against his will; _a card with an alternate victory condition_ …

He'd heard of the famous _Exodia_ , of course; the only known copies of the five monsters that composed it were kept under the tightest possible security within the _Duel Monsters_ museum of Cairo, Egypt. Perhaps other cards like it had existed as well, their creators intent on imitating such immense power, but such cards had been entered into private collections, faded into history, or both.

To even see such a monster with his own eyes … Yū was glad to be already sitting down; Kaede and Yūrei might have wondered why he was acting so strangely. But Kaede looked equal parts confused and disturbed at the vague description of _Spoiled Angel's_ effect Yūrei had given her—while the boy himself looked at the top of his game.

"I Set one card," he said, "and end my turn." A single card appeared at his feet, then sank into the misty floorboards of his _House_ with the barest of creaks.

Yū took the time to take stock of the Duel so far: on Yūrei's field, a Duel winner whose full capacity he could not yet gauge, a Set monster, a Set card in his back row, and the _House_ in his Field Zone. He maintained the edge in LP, and would continue to do so for a time yet; Yūrei had had the foresight to Summon his _Spoiled Angel_ in Defense Position.

Kaede, too, had a card in her Field Zone; while Yūrei had the edge in Life Points, her _Château_ continued to give her the advantage in field strength. That said, her _Puddincess_ —which, up until now, had been the strongest monster she'd Summoned so far, didn't quite have what it took to punch through the wall that was _Spoiled Angel_ , let alone inflict enough damage to put a sizable dent in Yūrei's LP gauge thanks to his _House_. She still had a Set card in her own backrow, however, as well as a Set monster—so in terms of field presence, they were both neck-and-neck.

This was a close Duel, Yū knew; there was no telling how long or short it could go on. Neither Duelist seemed to be one for the quick, easy matches that most tournaments saw these days. But the Duel so far had had its fair share of twists and turns already; it could well be decided in the next turn—or the next twenty.

"My turn— _draw_!" Kaede squeaked out just then. Her poker face was much more composed than Yūrei's—though Yū was experienced enough to see the sudden twinkle in her blue eyes, and he knew she'd drawn something good.

"First," the little girl declared, "I'll Summon _Madolche Magiliene_ in Attack Position!" Another puzzle piece appeared on her field, to the right of _Puddincess_. This one supported a cute-looking witch in a dark, blooming dress, holding a fork as long as she was tall beside her (Level 4: _ATK 1400 »_ _ **1900**_ /DEF 1200 » **1700** ).

" _Magiliene's_ effect activates when it's Normal Summoned," said Kaede, "and lets me add a _Madolche_ monster from my Deck to my hand." She did so. "Now, I'll Reverse Summon my _Chouxvalier_ in Attack Position!"

 _Puddincess_ giggled with delight as _Chouxvalier_ finally resurfaced to the left of her, looking none the worse for the ordeal he'd gone through during the turn before last (Level 4: _ATK 1700 »_ _ **2200**_ /DEF 1300 » **1800** )—though he fixed Yūrei's _Spoiled Angel_ with a look that suggested he wasn't pleased to have gone through it at all.

"So … you know the old saying, 'Anything you can do, I can do better'?" Kaede asked, winking at Yūrei, who drew back. "We-e-e-ell, why don't you just sit back and watch how _girls_ do things around here, _sweet cheeks_!"

She threw out a hand before the boy could protest the term of endearment. "Now—I'll use my _Magiliene_ and my _Chouxvalier_ … to construct the Overlay Network!"

Yū stiffened where he sat. _What?! She can do it too?!_

Sure enough, both monsters were beginning to dissolve into golden energy; zipping into the galaxy that had just opened up at a starry-eyed _Puddincess'_ feet:

 **"** **Sugar-sweet desserts of faraway lands—each one made with her own two hands!**

 **"** **Xyz Summon!"** cheered Kaede. **"Feast your eyes! Rank 4!** ** _Queen Madolche Tiaramisu_** **!"**

The galaxy before her bloomed with yellow lightning, revealing for an instant the shadow of something squarish and bulky—but a moment later, the blinding light had faded, and in its place now rested an elegant throne, on which was seated a middle-aged, silver-haired lady, every inch of her looking as royal and regal as any queen could possibly be—even with the pair of baseball-sized chocolates revolving around her throne (Rank 4: _ATK 2200 »_ _ **2700**_ /DEF 2100 » **2600** ).

Yū was beginning to see why Himika had requested him specifically to oversee this Duel: both of these kids were Xyz users—and not too bad at it for their age, he thought approvingly. Yūrei might have been able to Summon a Duel winner—through an advanced technique like Xyz Change, no less—but Kaede had Summoned a monster of stronger physical power—and on her first go at it, too.

" _Queen Tiaramisu's_ effect!" Kaede declared. "Once per turn, by detaching an Overlay Unit, I can target up to 2 _Madolche_ cards in my Graveyard, shuffle them into my Deck—and then shuffle the same number of cards on _your_ field right back into _your_ Deck!"

Yūrei started. "What?!" he cried out—but he recovered quickly, throwing out his hand. "Trap activate: _Ghostrick Out_! By revealing a _Ghostrick_ monster in my hand—like this _Ghostrick Mary_ ," he added, flicking out the monster he'd discarded last turn, and which Yū assumed must have been returned by _Alucard's_ effect, "I can keep every _Ghostrick_ card _and_ every face-down monster on my field from being targeted _or_ destroyed by card effects for the rest of this turn!"

But even as Yū nodded at the boy's foresight to include a backup defense, Kaede was already giggling. "Good thinking," she said, winking at him. "Too bad _Tiaramisu's_ effect only targets _my_ cards—not _yours_."

Yūrei's pointy hair seemed to droop in his shock at being outwitted by a little girl. "So!" Kaede crowed, as _Tiaramisu_ reached out for one of the sweets orbiting her—which Yū realized only just now were meant to represent Overlay Units—and began nibbling at one of them. "I'll detach my _Magiliene_ —and then I target and shuffle both the _Madolche Nights_ and my _Madolche Tea Break_ in my Graveyard back into my Deck—and then … "

She paused—and suddenly shrugged. "Eh, I'll go easy on you. I won't shuffle any of your cards."

Yū did a double take. Kaede had Yūrei on the backfoot, and yet had elected not to opt for what could have been a crippling blow, if not a deciding one? He fervently hoped this was a mistake she was able to correct in time—especially since her _Puddincess'_ ATK and DEF had suddenly dropped to 1500/1500.

"Oh, _yeah_!" Kaede exclaimed, snapping her fingers as if she'd just forgotten something. "There's a monster in my Graveyard now, so my _Puddincess_ can't use its effect now. I'll have to fix that."

And, suddenly, she smiled. "But first! I'll use my _Queen Tiaramisu_ … to _reconstruct the Overlay Network_!"

Yū was floored at this. _She can use Xyz Change, too?!_

 _Tiaramisu_ , throne and all, now began to hover above the Duel field. Her silver hair was blowing every which way, as if in a mighty wind, and her body was beginning to glow with radiant golden light:

 **"** **A princess who's so sugary sweet, that just one smile will rot your teeth!"**

 **"** ** _Xyz Change_** **!"** Kaede chanted. **"Feast your eyes on my greatest recipe ever! Rank 5!** ** _Madolche Puddincess_** ** _Choco-a-la-Mode_** **!"**

The light that had subsumed her _Tiaramisu_ bloomed—and suddenly, a whole new monster had emerged: almost identical to Kaede's _Puddincess_ , though with a bigger, much more ornate tiara—to say nothing of the fountain of blonde hair erupting behind it—while her dress was a dark-chocolate brown rather than a creamy white (Rank 5: _ATK 2500 »_ _ **3000**_ /DEF 2200 » **2700** ).

The sight was breathtaking, even for Yū, who'd managed to Summon his fair share of high-powered monsters in his Dueling career—and especially for _Puddincess_ , who looked nothing short of starry-eyed as she gazed longingly at what might well be her future self. But Yū knew it still wasn't enough: why Kaede had spared Yūrei's field from the startlingly devastating effect of _Queen Tiaramisu_ — _how many cards can protect themselves against removal effects that don't target?_ he wondered—was a mystery to him. But regardless of her reasoning, her decision had ensured Yūrei would survive this turn barring a miracle—Kaede simply didn't have the offensive power to punch through both _Spoiled Angel_ and his Field Spell.

Yet the little girl still continued to smile. "Trap, activate: _Madolche Manner_!" she cried. "First, I can shuffle a _Madolche_ card from my Graveyard into my Deck, every _Madolche_ monster I control gains 800 ATK and DEF!" She grinned at Yūrei. "And I know just the card to shuffle."

So did Yū, even before he saw _Puddincess'_ ATK and DEF rocket right back up to 2300/2300; he instantly figured that Kaede would elect to shuffle the _Magiliene_ she'd detached from her _Tiaramisu_ only minutes ago. And it didn't stop there; as _Manner's_ effect took hold, both she and _Choco-a-la-Mode_ had gained a devious look in their baby blue eyes as their point gauges climbed further still, before finally stopping at a daunting **_3100_** **/3100** and **_3800_** **/3500**.

But it still wasn't enough, Yū realized. Even if _Puddincess_ attacked _Spoiled Angel_ first, it wouldn't be able to use its removal effect against _House_ ; Yūrei and his _Ghostrick Out_ had seen to that. Yūrei himself seemed to understand that, too; despite the anxious look he was giving both of Kaede's monsters, there remained an air of confidence about him; he knew he could last long enough to plan a counterattack next turn.

" _Madolche Ticket's_ effect!" Kaede cried out just then. "Once per turn, if a _Madolche_ monster goes from my field or my Graveyard into my hand or my Deck, I can add another _Madolche_ monster from my Deck to my hand!"

Yū's mind skidded to a halt—he'd nearly forgotten about that Continuous Spell. Had Kaede planned for this, too?

His mouth fell open as he realized the other half of _Ticket's_ effect. _Yes … yes, she had_.

"I'll add _Madolche Croiwanssant_ from my Deck to my hand," continued Kaede, "and then, since I control a Fairy-Type monster, I can Special Summon it in Attack Position!" Moments later, another puzzle piece had shimmered onto the field—this one apparently made out of a pancake; perched atop it was a plush puppy that Yū had to work very hard to avert his eyes from, lest it render him diabetic (Level 3/ _ATK 1500 »_ _ **2000**_ /DEF 1200 » **1700** ).

Then _Croiwanssant_ began to _yip-yip-yip_ happily as _Choco-a-la-Mode_ began to scratch behind its ears, and Yū's mind was made up. _Forget the one dentist appointment_ , he thought to himself. _I'm going once a week after this_.

Kaede had gone into a transport of squealing delight at the sight of the canine cavity-causer. "Isn't that the most adorable thing you've ever seen?" she swooned.

When no answer to her question came, she pouted. "C'mon, don't be such a stick-in-the-mud, Yūrei! Boys can like cute things too!"

For some reason, Yū felt himself stiffening as he heard that; he wondered if maybe Kaede had been sneaking looks at how he'd been reacting to her own monsters. If so, he'd be leaving that out of his report to Himika after today.

Yūrei, for his part, snorted. "You keep doing this, you might start scaring me, too," he shot back. "Just because your Deck's all about puppies and princesses doesn't make it _cute_. And just because mine's all about vampires and monsters shouldn't mean people think it's all icky. And girls can like icky things, too," he countered, smiling a little bit at what he must have thought was a witty comeback for a Junior-level Duelist.

Kaede's hair deflated for a tiny moment, apparently unable to retort in kind—before she grinned once again. "Well, you know what they say," she snickered. "'Don't knock it till you've tried it'! And that's exactly why I'm going to activate _Madolche Croiwanssant's_ effect!"

 _Croiwanssant_ bounced out of _Choco-a-la-Mode's_ arms and onto its pancake puzzle-piece, wiggling its hind legs as if getting ready to pounce. "Once per turn, by returning a _Madolche_ card on the field to my hand," Kaede said, "I can make _Croiwanssant_ increase its Level by 1—and its ATK by 300! I'll return my _Madolche Ticket_!"

Something occurred to Yū at that moment, as he watched _Croiwanssant's_ stat gauge change to Level _4_ : _ATK_ _ **2300**_. He began to do some calculations in his head; maybe _Croiwanssant_ wasn't strong enough on its own, but …

He gasped as it hit him—but before he could collect his thoughts, Kaede had already acted.

"Battle Phase!" she declared. " _Madolche Puddincess_ , attack _Spoiled Angel of the Ghostrick_!" Again, Puddincess hefted her tiara in one hand, sighting down her target with the other—and then flinging it right at Yūrei's monster. The crown struck _Spoiled Angel_ smack in the middle of her forehead, rendering the Duel winner cross-eyed for a brief moment before she exploded into a thousand hard-light shards.

Suddenly, Yūrei didn't look so confident now. Yū wondered if he'd just come to the same conclusion as he had.

"Next! _Madolche Croiwanssant_!" Kaede stabbed a stubby finger in her opponent's direction. "Attack Yashiki Yūrei directly!"

The plush puppy wasted no time in scampering across the field, cannonballing into Yūrei's chest and knocking him flat on his back—before proceeding to lick his face left, right, and center. The boy shouted and protested, but to no avail as his LP gauge dropped to 1900, cushioned yet again by the damage-reducing effect of his _Ghostrick House_ —but Yū knew now that even this wouldn't save him.

By the time _Croiwanssant_ had bounded away from a spluttering Yūrei, _yip-yip-yipping_ all the way, _Choco-a-la-Mode_ had followed in its wake, and now extended out a hand in Yūrei's direction.

" _Madolche Puddincess Choco-a-la-Mode_?" Kaede's grin could have shamed the sun. " _Show him how to dance_."

The Xyz Monster wasted no time in doing so, bodily hauling Yūrei up to his feet and proceeding to steer him in an exuberant waltz that reminded Yū uncomfortably of a social function he'd attended at his school the previous year, when an overly enthusiastic date had hobbled both his feet for the better part of a week. Monster and Duelist were little more than a blur as they whirled around the field; _Choco-a-la-Mode_ seemed to be having the time of her life.

Yūrei, unsurprisingly, was not. By the time _Choco-a-la-Mode_ had relinquished her hold on him, the boy had spun round a few times, carried on by sheer momentum as if the monster had flung him like just another tiara. He was clearly dizzy; the boy's pale face was a shade of pea green that clashed horribly with his gelled-up hair.

"I … " he managed to mumble, his eyes spinning in their sockets like pinwheels, "I don't … feel so good … "

Then—perhaps like any reasonable boy his age, Yū thought—Yashiki Yūrei toppled onto his back with a final groan. His Duel Disk was beeping one long, continuous noise—his LP having been depleted to zero. _Choco-a-la-Mode's_ attack had been just enough to circumvent _Ghostrick House's_ effect; Kaede had won.

The Duel concluded, both _House_ and Kaede's _Château_ faded into nothingness, and the bright sunlight of the park around them flooded the Duel site once more. The sudden brightness threw Kaede's hair into sharp relief; the little girl was ecstatic with glee, and twirling about so as to make her wide dress bloom out wider still.

"I'm a Lancer now!" she whooped, over and over again. "I'm a Lancer now!"

Yū suddenly heard clapping and cheering from all around them; it seemed the Duel had attracted a few spectators without him noticing—the Field Spells must have been blocking his view, he decided.

And though a part of him wanted to tell Kaede that the day was still young, he couldn't help it—he clapped too.

* * *

It took another ten minutes before Yūrei could stand up on his own two feet. He said very little beyond that, merely giving Kaede a brief "thanks for the Duel" before promptly plunking himself back on the bench beside Yū.

"I'm all right," said the boy before Yū could ask. "I'm not mad or anything, I just … I didn't think she'd beat me the way she did. It's not every day you dance with a _Duel Monster_."

"You had me scared for a bit out there," Yū told him. "I didn't know if you were just out of breath, or if that last attack had knocked you unconscious or something."

Yūrei smiled—the first time he'd done so after the Duel. "Heh … had you going there, didn't I?" he rasped, taking a long draught from his water bottle as he spoke. "I told you that I liked to scare people."

He spared a glance in Kaede's direction. The little girl had set herself on Yū's other side, and now happily munched on yet another one of her grandma's puzzle-piece pastries. "And that … sometimes … I like it when they scare _me_."

Kaede had heard. "I wasn't trying to scare you, Yūrei," she chirped through a mouthful of pastry. "I didn't want to wipe the floor with you or anything. I was trying to be nice."

"That _Puddincess_ of yours has a funny way of showing it," Yūrei said ruefully, stretching out his arms as if to make sure he could still use them. "Guess I'm not cut out for being a Lancer after all. It's too bad; I like being able to Duel slow—the best kind of pranks and scares start out that way. Too many Duelists here don't appreciate that."

"Well, I wouldn't say that too quickly," Yū spoke up. "At the end of the day, it's not the destination that matters—just the journey. How many times you win or lose a Duel shouldn't color how you see yourself as a Duelist, only what you do during those Duels."

He felt the benefit of hindsight speaking for him; as someone who'd previously earned top standing at last year's Maiami City Championship, and practically coasted his way into this one only to endure a humiliating loss, Yū had realized that he'd grown too complacent in his Dueling. He'd become too confident in his Dueling prowess—too intent on proving that prowess to everyone he met.

He still had a lot to learn—and the more Yū thought about it, the more he was beginning to wonder if that was the _real_ reason Himika had signed him up for this—that the hope for Maiami City, if it ever was invaded again, lay not with Duelists who had the benefit of experience behind them … but of _youth_ , of an energy only they could harness to continue the evolution of _Duel Monsters_.

But it was this experience that made it possible for the youth of the city—the first true Lancers—to have reached the heights they had in the first place. And as two of those youth now stared at him, wondering what he'd meant by his words, Yū now let that experience take full command of him, and he began to speak.

"Yūrei, I'll be the first to admit I wasn't expecting you to have a Duel winner in your possession," he told the boy. "And it was pretty clever of you to leave out a crucial detail of that _Spoiled Angel's_ effect. Specifically," he gestured to the telemetry he'd saved to his Duel Disk, "how it needed _ten_ Overlay Units to fulfill its win condition."

"Huh?!" Kaede's eyes were as large as saucers. " _Ten_ Overlay Units? Are you telling me I got worked up over that monster for nothing?"

Yūrei managed another smile. "Like I said … I like to scare people."

Kaede blinked. Then she giggled. "Yeah … I guess I was pretty scared," she conceded. "Good one."

The boy's smile grew just a bit wider; Yū allowed him that much before he continued on.

"Of course," he said, "having a win condition is no good if you have no way of protecting it. Your _Ghostrick Out_ was a good solution to that, as was Summoning it in Defense Position. But if you want that monster to last long enough to use its ultimate ability, you've got to make sure you have the cards it takes to make it happen."

"Why do you think I like playing _long_ Duels?" Yūrei asked.

"Doesn't matter," Yū said shortly. "Maybe _you_ do, but maybe other Duelists don't. I know for a fact that those invaders won't sit around on their butts while you assemble your ultimate strategy."

He thought back to one Duelist he'd fought alongside that day, who'd managed to achieve the near-impossible feat of Summoning an _Ultimate Perfect Form – Great Moth_ , of all monsters, in an age of Dueling where speed was just about everything. "I don't think Sora would, either, if you ever got the chance to Duel him."

It was Yūrei's turn to blink owlishly at him. "Yeah, but … I almost won the Duel that turn … if it wasn't for her _Puddincess_ … "

"That you did," Yū replied. "And I'll be talking about that _Puddincess_ later on, too," he added with a look in Kaede's direction. "So why didn't you get rid of her before then? You had the chance—when you used _Roleshift_ to flip down _Chouxvalier_. Why not flip _Puddincess_ instead?"

"Because I thought _Chouxvalier_ was the better target," answered Yūrei. "Kaede mentioned its effect wouldn't let me target any other _Madolches_ besides itself for attacks. I wanted to use my Field Spell to bypass her face-down monsters and attack directly with a single blow. I wouldn't have been able to do that if I'd left _Chouxvalier_ alone."

The boy sighed. "I know it was a bad move _now_ ," he said, "but I'm still a kid. Maybe you don't make mistakes in a Duel, but kids like us make plenty. If I'd known about those Counter Traps of hers, though"—he aimed a thumb at Kaede—"you can bet I'd have gone for her _Puddincess_ instead."

He stretched out where he sat. "She was the better Duelist today; I won't take that away from her. I'm just saying you should cut us some slack."

"Lancers don't have the luxury of slack," Yū would only say. "Believe me, I know," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

At length, he turned to address Kaede. "So. Now that you've heard what Yūrei had to say about how he did in that Duel, tell me—what do you think _you_ did wrong?"

Kaede scrunched up her round face in thought. "I dunno," she shrugged, swallowing the last of her pastry. "I think I did great, actually. I beat him, didn't I?"

"Not that simple," Yū said shortly. "You were lucky Yūrei didn't consider your _Puddincess_ a bigger target—if he had, those Counter Traps of yours wouldn't have been quite as effective. But more importantly—why didn't you use the effect of your _Queen Tiaramisu_ on Yūrei's field? You had every option to do so—and it would have made your win a lot easier."

"That's … kinda why I did it," Kaede said. "That Duel felt _easy_. I didn't wanna hurt his feelings by getting rid of his whole field. Duels aren't supposed to be about kicking the other guy when he's already down."

"Maybe _you_ don't think that, Kaede," Yū replied, "but what about those invaders? I'm told they have a preference for Dueling Xyz users more than anyone else." He privately wondered if that was the reason Himika had tapped these two kids to be judged as Lancer material in the first place. She'd wanted to know if the children of this city had what it took to overcome an opponent who took a deadly serious approach to Dueling—emphasis on _deadly_. That these two kids used Xyz Summoning would have given them all the more reason to overcome them.

"Do you think," he went on, "that they wouldn't kick you when _you_ went down, simply because you were a kid?"

"Even if they do," said Kaede, "that doesn't mean I can't be nice to _them_. Maybe they were _forced_ to Duel us."

Yū blinked. It was an avenue of thought he'd not considered, but … "That's not for us to know," he said heavily. "Kaede, when you get older, you're going to find that the world's not as simple as the one you lived in as a child. It's not even like those shows you might see on TV—where little girls get to fight monsters and demons with the power of love. But people don't simply wake up, go to school, and save the world before bedtime. Even the Lancers aren't capable of that. That's not who they are."

"Who are they, then?" Yūrei, who'd been intrigued in the conversation, leaned over to ask. "You make them sound like they're not superheroes—so what else could they be?"

Yū needed a moment to think of a good answer to that question. He wasn't sure if he was qualified to do so at all—given his disastrous foray into being a Lancer himself—nor was he certain of how to simplify it into terms these two kids could understand.

"They're … _guardians_ ," he finally said. "I think that's the best way of putting it. They're meant to defend our city as one single group. Doesn't matter if they have to win or lose to make it happen. They don't think about _how_ , they don't care about _why_ —they simply protect us, no questions asked." He sighed again. "And that's one reason why I don't think either of you are ready to become Lancers."

Yū paused just long enough to take in the crestfallen looks from Kaede and Yūrei—before he suddenly smiled.

" _Unless_."

Both kids snapped their gazes up at him.

"Unless … what?" Yūrei dared to speak first.

"Unless," Yū replied, hauling himself up from where he sat, "you _were_ able to prove that you weren't fighting for something you _wanted_ … but something you _shared_ , instead. Unless," he added, ambling across the pavement, "you _could_ work as a team … able to fight as one against an opponent that you knew wouldn't hold back just because he wanted to be _nice_ "—he glanced at Kaede, then to Yūrei—"or that you knew could give you the _scare of your life_."

He took out his Duel Disk … and felt his lip curl in a smile as the bright violet blade ignited along his left arm.

"So," he challenged the two children, "what do you say?"

Yūrei and Kaede traded glances, their eyes slowly beginning to shine; Yū could almost see the meaning of his words coalescing in their mind.

Then, as one, they sprang from the bench, igniting their own Duel Disks almost in tandem.

" _Battle Royale Mode: ready_ ," a synthesized voice announced from Yū's Duel Disk. " _Field reconfiguration: ready_."

"One last test," he said to the two would-be Lancers, smiling wider than ever. "Think about everything I've told you. Be more than just a hero—be a _protector_. And if you can prove yourselves to me this time … _then_ we'll see what's in store for your future."

He hefted his blade in the traditional ready-stance.

"You're on!" Kaede and Yūrei said together, mirroring his actions in kind, grinning fit to burst.

Yū drew his cards, and steeled his mind, though he was no longer concerned about how he would perform this time. It was not about him; it never had been. Perhaps that had been the mistake he and all those other Duelists had helped to make last time; they'd wanted to be seen as a hero—as somebody _cool_.

When he'd woken up this morning, Yū had believed he'd hit rock bottom. He'd been kicking himself for his failure, and widely expected his peers to blame him for it, too. The worst part had been the notion that they weren't in the wrong for wanting to do so; some part of him had felt he deserved whatever came to him for acting the way he had.

It was as though he'd fallen from a great height—a rise and fall of his own making. He'd lost faith in who he was as a Duelist, and pondered whether others had lost faith in him. Himika must have noticed this, he thought, because why else would she organize this small little meeting? It hadn't been just about the Lancers.

It had been about _them_ —about _him_ —and how much each could believe in the other.

And so, as the crowds began to gather, and the battle to come began to take shape, Yū felt happier than he'd been all week. Because he only needed to look in the eyes of Kaede and Yūrei to know that he'd been wrong—that the youth of this city, if only two complete strangers, _still believed in him_.

Today would be a long day, he thought … but it would also be for all the right reasons. He would believe in them, as they believed in him—as even Himika, in her own way, had believed in him.

He exhaled … inhaled … closed his eyes … opened them again … Finally, as three voices shouted a single word in unison, Sakuragi Yū was ready to _believe_.

 ** _"_** ** _DUEL!"_**

* * *

 **A/N: I had a tough time trying to figure out how I should end this one. As interesting as writing a Duel with a** ** _Spellbook/Prophecy_** **Deck might be, I had my doubts—knowing what I know about the Deck as a whole—that I'd be able to make it a brief one. Plus, I didn't want to overstep with someone else's characters; I feel it's better to let their rightful owner make a decision as momentous as being a Lancer on their own time.**

 **I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the anonymous owner of the two characters I depicted in this story, and for their patience with my erratic-at-best update schedule. This was a new experience for me, and it feels like a bigger accomplishment than I expected now that it's done.**

 **For everyone else who read, liked, or reviewed this story, thanks for reading as always. See you in 2018! – K**


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